# alligator
## English
### Etymology 1

From early Modern English alligater, alligarta, aligarto, alegarto, alagarto, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), modern spelling possibly influenced by the unrelated Latin alligator (“one who binds”).

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tə/
* (General American) enPR: ălʹĭ-gā-tər, IPA: /ˈæl.ɪ.ɡeɪ.tɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Hyphenation: al‧li‧ga‧tor
* Homophone: allegator
* Rhymes: -eɪtə(ɹ)

#### Noun

alligator (plural alligators)
* Either of two species of large amphibious reptile, Alligator mississippiensis or Alligator sinensis, in the genus Alligator within order Crocodilia, which have sharp teeth and very strong jaws and are native to the Americas and China, respectively.
    All you could see of the alligator were two eyes above the water, then suddenly it snatched up and caught the poor bird with strong jaws full of sharp teeth.
** 2002, Maurice Burton, Robert Burton, International Wildlife Encyclopedia, page 38:Alligators and crocodiles look extremely alike. The main distinguishing feature is the teeth. In a crocodile the teeth in its upper and lower jaws are in line, but in an alligator, when its mouth is shut, the upper teeth lie outside the lower ones.
** 2007, Bernie McGovern, editor, Florida Almanac: 2007-2008, 17th edition, page 243:In 1967, the federal government declared alligators to be an Endangered Species and prohibited gator hunting and the sale of hides. The alligator responded and by the mid-1970s, the reptile numbers soared to an estimated half-million.
** 2012, Thomas N. Tozer, Pierre's Journey to Florida: Diary of a Young Huguenot in the Sixteenth Century, unnumbered page:They ran to the village screaming at the top of their lungs that an alligator was coming after them. Several of the men in Alimacani retrieved from a storehouse the tool they used to catch alligators.
* (paleontology) A member of the family Alligatoridae, which includes the caimans.
* (Nigeria) A dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis)
* (dated) A crocodile of any species.
** 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 88:Alligators were very numerous, in fact the harbour was infested by them.
* Any of various machines with strong jaws, one of which opens like the movable jaw of an alligator.
** (metalworking) A form of squeezer for the puddle ball.
** (mining) A rock breaker.
** (printing) A kind of job press.
* Any of various vehicles that have relatively long, low noses in front of a cab or other, usually windowed, structure.

##### Synonyms

* (reptile within Crocodilia): gator (informal)

##### Coordinate terms

* (reptile within Crocodilia): caiman, cayman; croc, crocodile; gavial, gharial

##### Derived terms

* Alligator Alley
* alligator apple (Annona glabra)
* alligator bait
* alligator clamp
* alligator clip
* alligatored
* alligator fish
* alligatorfish (Aspidophoroides monopterygius)
* alligator flag (Thalia spp.)
* alligator forceps
* alligator gar (Atractosteus spatula)
* alligator grass
* alligatoring
* alligator juniper (Juniperus deppeana)
* alligator leather
* alligatorlike
* alligator lizard (Abronia spp., Elgaria spp., and Coloptychon)
* alligator pear
* alligator pepper (Aframomum daniellii)
* Alligator Pond
* alligator press
* alligator saw
* alligator shear
* alligator skin
* alligator snapper, alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
* alligator spread
* alligator terrapin
* alligator tortoise
* alligator turtle, alligator-turtle (Macrochelys temminckii)
* alligator weed (Alternanthera philoxeroides)
* alligator-wood, alligatorwood (Liquidambar styraciflua)
* alligator wrench
* American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis)
* big-lipped alligator moment
* Chinese alligator (Alligator sinensis)
* gator
* prairie alligator (Anisomorpha ferruginea)
* see you later alligator
* spectacled alligator (spectacled caiman (Caiman crocodilus))
* werealligator

##### Translations
#### Verb

alligator (third-person singular simple present alligators, present participle alligatoring, simple past and past participle alligatored)
* (intransitive, of paint or other coatings) To crack in a pattern resembling an alligator's skin.
** 2003, Carson Dunlop & Associates, Essentials of Home Inspection: Roofing, page 24:Alligatoring is a result of the sun making the top surface of the asphalt brittle.
** 2004, James E. Piper, Handbook of Facility Assessment, page 39:Sealing an area that is alligatoring is a temporary solution that may delay having to replace the asphalt for several years. A more permanent repair would be to replace the alligatored section.
** 2009, Kären M. Hess, Christine M. H. Orthmann, Criminal Investigation, page 483:Common burn indicators include alligatoring, crazing, the depth of char, lines of demarcation, sagged furniture springs and spalling.

#### Interjection

alligator
* Used in a common chronometric counting scheme, in which the speaker counts out loud, saying the word "alligator" between the numbers so that each number is spoken approximately one second after the last one.
** 2013, Chuck Palahniuk, “December 21, 9:33 A.M. CST”, in Doomed:The same way people will count the seconds between lightning and thunder, I counted the seconds between coughs. One-alligator, two-alligator, three-alligator.

#### References

* Michael Quinion (2004) “Alligator”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
* “alligator”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
* Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “alligator”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin alligātor.

#### Noun

alligator (plural alligators)
* (obsolete) One who binds or ties. (Can we verify this sense?)

##### See also

* ligator

## Danish
### Noun

alligator c (singular definite alligatoren, plural indefinite alligatorer)
* alligator

#### Declension
### References

* “alligator” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Alternative forms

* alligador (obsolete)

### Etymology

Borrowed from English alligator, from Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˌɑ.liˈɣaː.tɔr/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: al‧li‧ga‧tor
* Rhymes: -aːtɔr

### Noun

alligator m (plural alligators, diminutive alligatortje n)
* alligator, crocodilian of the genus Alligator [from 18th c.]

## French
### Etymology

From English alligator.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /a.li.ɡa.tɔʁ/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

alligator m (plural alligators)
* alligator (animal)

### Further reading

* “alligator”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Latin
### Alternative forms

* adligator

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /al.liˈɡaː.tor/, [älːʲɪˈɡäːt̪ɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /al.liˈɡa.tor/, [älːiˈɡäːt̪or]

### Etymology 1

alligo (“I bind”) +‎ -tor

#### Noun

alligātor m (genitive alligātōris); third declension
* one who ties or binds
** 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 4.13:Impedationem deinde sequitur alligator, cuius officium est ut rectam vitem producat in iugum.Translation by H. B. AshThen, after the propping, comes the binder, whose task it is to train the vine upright to the frame.

##### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### References

* “alligator”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

### Etymology 2

From English alligator, a fusion of Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), from Latin lacertus (“lizard”), unrelated to the sense above.

#### Noun

alligātor m (genitive alligātōris); third declension
* (New Latin) alligator

##### Declension

Third-declension noun.

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Etymology

From Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), via English alligator.

### Noun

alligator m (definite singular alligatoren, indefinite plural alligatorer, definite plural alligatorene)
* alligator

### References

* “alligator” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology

From Spanish el lagarto (“the lizard”), via English alligator.

### Noun

alligator m (definite singular alligatoren, indefinite plural alligatorar, definite plural alligatorane)
* alligator

### References

* “alligator” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Swedish
### Noun

alligator c
* alligator (reptile)

#### Declension

| | | nominative | genitive |
| singular | indefinite | alligator | alligators |
| singular | definite | alligatorn | alligatorns |
| plural | indefinite | alligatorer | alligatorers |
| plural | definite | alligatorerna | alligatorernas |

#### See also

* krokodil (“crocodile”)

### References

* alligator in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* alligator in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* alligator in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
* Svensk MeSH

## West Frisian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Dutch alligator.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /aliˈɡaːtɔr/

### Noun

alligator c (plural alligators, diminutive alligatorke)
* alligator